My husband, the Triathlete

Yesterday Andy competed in his first triathlon up at Lake Okoboji. He has spent the past few months training, reading books, and getting geared up for this race. Being pregnant, I opted out of the race, and did my wifely duty of writing his race number all over his arms and legs (much easier!). I noticed one mom that had a 4 month old baby that did the triathlon and another one that probably finished in the top 5 that had twins so maybe they will be my inspiration for next year.

Here is Andy just a few minutes before the race started. I think there were right around 300 participants. It was probably no warmer than 55 degrees at the time. And anyone that has ever been in Lake Okoboji knows that it is never warm. He didn't seem to mind.

0.6 mile swim

And here he is at his first transition getting ready to head out to do the 18 mile bike around west lake.

And here he is with less than half a mile to go of the 10K run portion. He looked great and was smiling through the entire thing. Being a spectator, I can't say that about all of the participants.

And here he is about 30 seconds after he finished. I was so proud of him! I think there will be many more triathlons in his future. His finishing time was right around 2 hours and 2 minutes.

Great job, Andy!

(And mom, I promise I will post a better belly picture soon, but here you can even see it from the front in a baggy hoody)

3 more weeks

Our 20 week ultrasound is scheduled for 8:00am on Thursday, July 23rd.

Yes, we are (hopefully) finding out what we are having.

&

Yes, we will share the news with all of you.

We can't wait!

What do you guys think...boy or girl??

Belly Shot- 15 weeks

Yesterday Andy and I spent the afternoon at Kent Park beach. I thought it would be a good time to finally snap the first picture of my growing belly. None of my pants fit anymore. I am strictly on elastic waistbands now. Thank goodness Desiree gave me piles and piles of maternity clothes. I'm a lucky girl.

And look! It's my friend Sara from Dexy Mama! I knew she was going to be on the packaging, but how fun to see it there on the shelf in the store. It makes we love Preggie Pop Drops even more than I already do. Sara, you set the bar high for pregnant moms everwhere.

"This is your captain speaking"

Andy was given a gift certificate for a flying lesson last year for his birthday from Brian and Meghann. He used it last Friday afternoon and LOVED it. I think there will probably be more lessons in his future. I think he needs to use a bit of a larger plane. I can't believe two guys fit in this little thing. Of course it makes me kind of nervous. It's better than having him sky diving again!

Garden Update

Andy's birthday basket of petunias. I don't know if you are all aware, but Andy LOVES petunias. He even wanted them for the men to wear on their suits at our wedding. I found this basket at a neat nursery run by Amish in Kalona, IA. I plan to get all my annuals there next year.

Our Iris' did very well this year. Our Day Lilies are now blooming next to them.
We also planted a Golden Aspen tree in our front yard. We've been talking about it for awhile and finally went and picked one out. These are the same trees that they have up in the mountain in Colorado, which is another reason we really like it. They tell us it should do well here in the midwest. We shall see.

This post is dedicated to my mom who is my #1 gardner inspiration and Andy's Aunt Jo who is cruising the Carribean for a few months and missing her garden back home.

Wild boys

These pictures are from a few weeks ago, but I thought I'd share. Here is Andy's little 2 year old cousin Zach. Yes, that is a blue mohawk. He's sets the bar high for cool little boys!

Tyler took us boating on Coralville Lake for Dana's birthday. The water was FREEZING, but that didn't stop them from jumping in four different times. I stayed in the boat.
I guess it wasn't always 'jumping' in. There were back flips too.

The cutest baby we've ever seen

Here is our 12 week old baby Litton. Pretty good shot for being so tiny! The baby was sprawled out, pushing against my uterus and then cozied up and slid down into the little pocket.

And here is a shot from the top of the head looking down. The arms were moving like crazy, but here the ultrasound tech caught them out in front. So that puts Baby Litton's due date at December 11th. Our next ultrasound will be towards the end of July when we will get to find out the gender. We can't wait!